The European Union border agency Frontex has claimed that more Ukrainian refugees are now returning to their country than leaving it despite the ongoing conflict with Russia.
Frontex has maintained that in recent weeks more Ukrainian refugees are heading back to Ukraine than coming to Europe, with an estimated 2.3 million refugees having already returned to the country since the outbreak of the war with Russia in February.
“Border traffic remains stable and there is no major border congestion,” Frontex said and added, “There are around 144 trucks with humanitarian aid entering Ukraine each day. Frontex continues to monitor refugee flows to facilitate border crossings and support evacuation corridors,” the European Union-funded website InfoMigrants reports.
While around 5.3 million Ukrainian nationals have arrived in the European Union since the outbreak of the war, the total number of people, including non-Ukrainians, who have fled to conflict is around seven million.
Poland remains the country in Europe which has taken in the largest number of Ukrainian refugees at around three million, and around 147,000 crossed into the country from Ukraine during the last week of May.
The return of Ukrainian refugees has been a growing trend since at least April when a spokesman for Ukrainian Border Security claimed that as of mid-April around a million refugees had already returned to their homeland and stated as many as 30,000 were returning per day.
This behaviour of Ukrainian refugees wishing to go home when they can has not, mysteriously, been seen with other asylum seekers entering Europe in recent years.
Many Syrians and Afghani migrants have fled conflict and have not since returned to their home countries, but also haven’t integrated into their western host countries either, according to the leader of the populist Sweden Democrats, who called for a “remigration” of Syrians, Somalis and Afghanis last week.
Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson called for Sweden to make efforts to return migrants who were living on state benefits and who have not integrated into Swedish society.
“Remigration is not a miracle solution, but the failures of recent decades show that it must be an option – a solution for all those who live in long-term exclusion,” Akessoins said in a debate article along with the party’s migration policy spokesman Ludvig Aspling.